Dinosaours, Denial, and the Client

In the
bookand
movie, Jurassic Parkscientists kept careful track of the dinosaurs to ensure none escaped from the
island park.

Because the genetics were carefully rigged so the animals couldn’t breed,
the scientists kept track of only the dinosaurs they knew of. But
wait–the animals did start breeding, and none of the careful controls counted all the
animals in the park. And that began the terrifically fun CGI-enabled disasters.

The problem

A while ago, there was a problem with a service purchased from a one of our “upstream
providers”. We noticed it within hours, re-mediated
the issue on our side and alerted the company through their support process.

The expectation

The expectation is the following: a large number of bright, serious young techs
constantly and carefully monitor all aspects of their service. If a customer mentions
a issue, they investigate immediately, take swift action and pass recommendations
up the technical and managerial chain to install procedural remedies to prevent
re-occurrence.

The response

Well….the response was the following: “I am an expert in this
area…” and “you probably did this obvious thing incorrectly;
I see this all the time”. When we protested, he helpfully included a link
to all the strict protocols they have in place to avert just such an issue. The
situation was ignored for several more hours. In a different scenario, dinosaurs
would have been eating IT technicians right and left by now.

Our response

We escalated the issue two more times with proof we acquired that other clients
of theirs (we have ways of knowing!) were being affected. Finally, after many hours,
we were informed that, in fact, there was an issue external to our account and
they would be taking immediate and appropriate action.

Well, thanks!

Dear Client, You can be sure our crack team will be carefully analyzing this firm’s service for additional indications that they are not the excellent performers they had been.

What can we learn?

* Despite all the answers you know, you don’t know all the questions;
* Answers that worked yesterday may not work now; and
* Finally, and most importantly, when a customer brings a problem to your attention…consider
it very seriously.